It was a night for the Maple Leafs to wish all the rumours had been true.

No, not the ones that encircle the Toronto hockey club on a 24/7 basis, or the goofy ones that have major trophy winners coming here for second- and third-round picks, but rather the ones that swirled around Buffalo Sabres netminder Ryan Miller for much of last season.

Last winter, it seemed almost a certainty, based on external speculation at least, that Miller would in a matter of course be an ex-Sabre. Anaheim, for a bunch of reasons, seemed a logical destination.

The genesis of this was equal parts Miller’s perceived unhappiness — remember the infamous Milan Lucic incident after which exactly none of his teammates came to his defence? — and his relatively average performance.

Not since the 2010 Winter Olympics, suggested many, had Miller been anywhere the goalie his reputation suggested.

Well, no deal ever happened, and maybe it was all idle chatter. That was, of course, the very same Miller in Buffalo’s net Monday night at the Air Canada Centre in the Leaf home opener, spoiling the fun for a home audience that got a ceremonial puck “drop” from astronaut Chris Hadfield and free blue-and-white scarves for all in attendance that more than a few suggested gave the ACC the appearance of a rather large bar mitzvah gathering.

Haberdashery aside, Miller’s impressive 34-save performance produced a 2-1 Buffalo triumph. The Leafs won on the shot counter but not on the scoresheet, with Miller able to get a piece of equipment or a body part on the 11 volleys sent his way by Leaf offensive leaders Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel.

The Leafs have scored only three goals in two games, but they’ve only allowed three goals in two games, with rookie goalie Ben Scrivens in the nets.

So half-empty, half-full, and the team’s at .500.

Buffalo, meanwhile, is out of the gate 2-0, with many praising their newfound grit, Thomas Vanek piling up points and Miller nearly unbeatable.

“This has been a good start,” said Miller. “We lost in a lot of ways last year but we’ve found a way to win so far (this season).”

The Leafs had beaten Miller five straight times, a stat of which he was fully aware.

“They’ve been kicking my ass for a few years now. It was time to get back at them,” he said.

Only Nazem Kadri, with the Leafs on the power play and Scrivens on the bench for an extra attacker, solved Miller. Even that was on a goofy play created by Mike Kostka’s flubbed slapshot that fluttered off the end boards and on to Kadri’s stick for an easy open-netter.

Leaf head coach Randy Carlyle wasn’t hammering his key attackers like Lupul, Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, but he wasn’t letting them off the hook, either.

The line of Mikhail Grabovski between Nik Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur, meanwhile, contributed five shots, but all three players are still looking for their first point.

Miller’s crucial efforts might have been late in the first when Drew Stafford, Tyler Myers and Steve Ott took consecutive minors in a 1:37 span. There were lengthy 5-on-3 opportunities, but Miller turned away eight shots to keep his team ahead 1-0.

Early in the second, the Leafs kept buzzing, and were ahead 15-5 on the shot counter. But then Carl Gunnarsson fell down high in the Buffalo zone and the Sabres zoomed off on a three-on-one break to produce a deflating Jason Pominville goal and a 2-0 lead.

“I don’t know what kind of play we were trying to execute on that one,” said Carlyle.

In some ways, it was a similarly uneven performance to the season opener in Montreal on Saturday, except the Sabres were sharper than were the Habs, while the Leafs created more offence but surrendered more odd-man breaks.

There were again some good things that happened from a Leaf perspective, and a lengthy laundry list of things to work on.

The challenge for all NHL teams, of course, will be finding time to get that work done in a compressed schedule. This week, the Leafs have games on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and for rest and travel reasons, getting two hard practices in won’t be easy.

How much of it was the shooting on Monday night, and how much of it was Miller’s strong play, depends on your perspective. In the end, it wasn’t an electric home opener despite the visit from outer space, just another night when the Leaf faithful seemed to want to cheer but didn’t get many chances.

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